Chapter 26 1809

JANUARY 6, 1809.

 To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States :

I now lay before Congress a statement of the works of defense which it
has been thought necessary to provide in the first instance for the
security of our seaport towns and harbors, and of the progress toward
their completion. Their extent has been adapted to the scale of the
appropriation and to the circumstances of the several places.

The works undertaken at New York are calculated to annoy and endanger
any naval force which shall enter the harbor, and, still more, one
which should attempt to lie before the city. To prevent altogether the
entrance of large vessels, a line of blocks across the harbor has been
contemplated, and would, as is believed, with the auxiliary means
already provided, render that city safe against naval enterprise. The
expense as well as the importance of the work renders it a subject
proper for the special consideration of Congress.

At New Orleans two separate systems of defense are necessary  the one
for the river, the other for the lake, which at present can give no aid
to one another. The canal now leading from the lake, if continued into
the river, would enable the armed vessels in both stations to unite, and
to meet in conjunction an attack from either side. Half the aggregate
force would then have the same effect as the whole, or the same force
double the effect of what either can now have. It would also enable the
vessels stationed in the lake when attacked by superior force to retire
to a safer position in the river. The same considerations of expense and
importance render this also a question for the special decision of
Congress.

TH. JEFFERSON.

JANUARY 13, 1809.

 To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States :

I now render to Congress the account of the fund established for
defraying the contingent expenses of Government for the year 1808.
Of the $20,000 appropriated for that purpose, $2,000 were deposited in
the hands of the Attorney-General of the United States to pay expenses
incident to the prosecution of Aaron Burr and his accomplices for
treason and misdemeanors alleged to have been committed by them; $990
were paid to the order of Governor Williams on the same account, and
the balance of $17,010 remains in the Treasury unexpended.

TH. JEFFERSON.

JANUARY 17, 1809.

 To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States :

I communicate to Congress certain letters which passed between the
British secretary of state, Mr. Canning, and Mr. Pinkney, our minister
plenipotentiary at London. When the documents concerning the relations
between the United States and Great Britain were laid before Congress at
the commencement of the session, the answer of Mr. Pinkney to the letter
of Mr. Canning had not been received, and a communication of the latter
alone would have accorded neither with propriety nor with the wishes of
Mr. Pinkney. When that answer afterwards arrived it was considered that,
as what had passed by conversation had been superseded by the written
and formal correspondence on the subject, the variance in the two
statements of what had verbally passed was not of sufficient importance
to be made the matter of a distinct and special communication. The
letter of Mr. Canning, however, having lately appeared in print,
unaccompanied by that of Mr. Pinkney in reply, and having a tendency
to make impressions not warranted by the statements of Mr. Pinkney,
it has become proper that the whole should be brought into public view.

TH. JEFFERSON.

JANUARY 24, 1809.

 To the Senate of the United States :

According to the resolution of the Senate of the 17th instant, I
now transmit them the information therein requested, respecting the
execution of the act of Congress of February 21, 1806, appropriating
$2,000,000 for defraying any extraordinary expenses attending the
intercourse between the United States and foreign nations.

TH. JEFFERSON.

JANUARY 30, 1809.

 To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States :

I transmit to Congress a letter recently received from our minister at
the Court of Saint James, covering one to him from the British secretary
of state, with his reply. These are communicated as forming a sequel to
the correspondence which accompanied my message to both Houses of the
17th instant.

TH. JEFFERSON.

FEBRUARY 18, 1809.

 To the Senate of the United States :

I submit a treaty, concluded at Brownstown, in the Territory of
Michigan, between the United States and the Chippewas, Ottawas,
Potawattamies, Wyandots, and Shawnees, on the 25th day of November
last, whereby those tribes grant to the United States two roads,
therein described, for the decision of the Senate whether they will
advise and consent to the ratification of it.

TH. JEFFERSON.

FEBRUARY 24, 1809.

 To the Senate of the United States :

The Emperor of Russia has on several occasions indicated sentiments
particularly friendly to the United States, and expressed a wish through
different channels that a diplomatic intercourse should be established
between the two countries. His high station and the relations of
Russia to the predominant powers of Europe must give him weight with
them according to the vicissitudes of the war, and his influence in
negotiations for peace may be of value to the United States should
arrangements of any sort affecting them be contemplated by other powers
in the present extraordinary state of the world; and under the constant
possibility of sudden negotiations for peace I have thought that the
friendly dispositions of such a power might be advantageously cherished
by a mission which should manifest our willingness to meet his good
will. I accordingly commissioned in the month of August last William
Short, formerly minister plenipotentiary of the United States at Madrid,
to proceed as minister plenipotentiary to the Court of Saint Petersburg,
and he proceeded accordingly; and I now nominate him to the Senate for
that appointment.

TH. JEFFERSON.

FEBRUARY 25, 1809.

 To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States :

I now lay before Congress a statement of the militia of the United
States according to the latest returns received by the Department
of War.

TH. JEFFERSON.

PROCLAMATION.

 (From Annals of Congress, Tenth Congress, second session, 462.)

WASHINGTON,  December 30, 1808 .

 The President of the United States to        ,  Senator for the
State of        .

Certain matters touching the public good requiring that the Senate
should be convened on Saturday, the 4th day of March next, you are
desired to attend at the Senate Chamber, in the city of Washington,
on that day, then and there to deliberate on such communications as
shall be made to you.

TH. JEFFERSON.